Saturday, April 23, 2011

DIEGO BEEKMAN/MILLBROOK HOUSES – Four Indicted Defendants Over 50

NEW YORK CITY SPECIAL NARCOTICS PROSECUTOR BRIDGET G. BRENNAN ANNOUNCED today the indictment of 12people – including a 69-year-old man and his grandson - charged with heroin and crack sales at the Diego Beekman Houses and the Millbrook Houses in the Bronx. This brings to 29 the total number of individuals indicted and arrested for narcotics crimes as a result of three separate enforcement operations at city housing complexes during in past two weeks. All the investigations were conducted in conjunction with the Narcotics Division and Housing Bureau of the New York City Police Department.DIEGO BEEKMAN/MILLBROOK HOUSES – Four Indicted Defendants Over 50

Beginning in the early hours of Tuesday, December 16th, 2008 officers from NYPD’s Bronx Borough Narcotics arrested 12 individuals on indictments issued by the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor. During the investigation, which began in May 1, 2008, undercover officers purchased $4500 worth of heroin from 69-year old Carlos Camacho and his grandson Cesar Quinones, 28 years old. Both reside in the Millbrook Houses, a New York City Housing Authority complex comprising nine 16-story buildings with 1,255 apartments and an estimated 3,026 residents. During the execution of search warrants early this morning, police recovered 360 heroin glassines, as well as $23,000 in cash from inside Carlos Camacho’s apartment. In addition to Camacho and Quinones, ten other defendants were indicted for heroin and crack/cocaine sales.
Four of the indicted defendants are age 50 or older, and all are charged with repeated sales of narcotics.

The Bronx Millbrook Houses, a New York City Housing Authority complex, is located between Brook and Cypress Avenues from 135th Street to 137th Avenues. The Diego Beekman units are a private, 38-building complex with 1,238 apartments and 10 commercial units in a six block area that stretches from 138th Street to 143d Street. The investigation started in Diego Beekman and spread to the adjacent Millbrook Houses.

In total, undercover officers purchased heroin or crack on 48 different occasions. On September 16, 2008 officers purchased a .22 caliber revolver from defendant Arthur North who is 50 years old. The defendants are being arraigned today on the indictments before Judge Michael Ambrecht at Part 21, 111 Centre Street in Manhattan. MURPHY HOUSES – Ten Dealers Arrested and Prostitution Site Padlocked
Earlier this week, on Monday, December 11, 2008, ten drug dealers were arrested and a house of prostitution shuttered in Operation Cross Bronx Crackdown, a joint investigation conducted by the NYPD Bronx Narcotics Division and the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor at the Murphy Houses. Community complaints triggered the investigation which began a year ago and resulted in 60 undercover purchases of crack cocaine from individual dealers, many of whom are residents of Murphy Houses. The complex is located at 1805 Crotona Avenue and 611 Crotona Park North in the South Bronx. It consists of two 20-story buildings, 281 apartments, and houses approximately 714 people.
One of those arrested, Prince Fahie, Jr., was a volunteer member of tenant patrol at the Murphy Houses, and sold crack to an undercover officer on six occasions. A search warrant of his apartment at the Murphy Houses recovered over 30 ziplock bags of crack in his bedroom. Another Murphy Houses resident, Cerone Brown, was arrested and charged with three narcotics sales and possessing a loaded .9 mm semi-automatic weapon, and a loaded .22 Derringer firearm recovered in search warrants.
Compounding problems at the Murphy Houses were ongoing drug and prostitution at 1822 Crotona Avenue, a private three story residential building less than a half block away. The investigation revealed that substance abusers leaving the Murphy Houses paid a nominal fee to use 1822 Crotona Avenue to smoke crack/cocaine. Prostitutes were also allowed to loiter inside of the residence. On December 11, 2008, in conjunction with NYPD Nuisance Abatement, 1822 Crotona Avenue was declared a nuisance and boarded up by a judicial order. JOHNSON HOUSES – Three Drug Dealing Rings Shut Down
A long-term investigation with Manhattan North Narcotics into three cocaine, crack/cocaine and heroin groups selling narcotics in the Johnson Houses in Manhattan between 112th and 115th streets also ended on December 11, 2008 with the arrest of six individuals on indictments obtained by the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor. The defendants were all charged with felony narcotics crimes.
Arrested were: Adam Mitchell, the leader of one crew; Devon Hawkins, heading another operation; and Naijee Garnett, Won Ambrose. Timothy Smart and his uncle Shadell Smart oversaw another group. The Smarts were indicted on two counts of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Second Degree, an AII felony and two counts of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree. They were also charged with Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the First Degree for selling more than two ounces of cocaine on the day of the takedown. Undercover officers purchased $3,200 worth of powdered cocaine from Timothy and Shadell Smart during the course of the investigation. Police estimate that all crews were selling about 400 grams of powdered cocaine on a weekly basis, netting about $40,000 per month. Defendants Arrested on Special Narcotics Indictments